GRE Subject Test: Biology : Inheritance
Study concepts, example questions & explanations for GRE Subject Test: Biology
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Example Questions
Example Question #21 : Inheritance
Which of the following molecules will you least likely find in a plasmid structure?
Pentose sugar
Glycerol
Phosphate group
Adenine
Glycerol
A plasmid is a circular DNA molecule that is found outside the bacterial nucleoid (chromosomal DNA). DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is a type of nucleic acid; therefore, a plasmid must contain substances that make up a nucleic acid. Recall that nucleic acids are made up of three main molecules per monomer: a pentose sugar, a phosphate group, and a nitrogenous base (adenine, thymine, uracil, guanine, or cytosine). Like the nucleoid DNA, plasmid DNA will be made of nucleotide monomers that contain a deoxyribose sugar, a phosphate, and a nitrogenous base.
Glycerol is the three carbon backbone for phospholipid and triglyceride structures. In triglycerides, a fatty acid chain is bound to each of the three glycerol carbons, whereas in phospholipids, two carbons are bound to fatty acids and the third is bound to a phosphate group. Glycerol is a chief structural component of lipid molecules, but will not be found in a nucleic acid plasmid.
Example Question #22 : Inheritance
Which of these processes is the means by which a bacterium can directly uptake and incorporate foreign DNA from the environment into its genome?
Transformation
Conjugation
Conduction
Transduction
Reproduction
Transformation
Transformation is defined as the process by which bacteria can incorporate exogenous DNA from the environment into their genome via direct uptake. Transduction and conjugation are also processes by which exogenous DNA is incorporated, but involve other methods.
Example Question #23 : Inheritance
Which of the following is a unique characteristic of prokaryotic cells?
mRNA translation simultaneous to transcription
Presence of a cell wall
Inability to create proton gradients
Lack of a cytoplast
Post-transcriptional modification of mRNA
mRNA translation simultaneous to transcription
Prokaryotes lack a nuclear membrane, which allows translation to occur at the same time as transcription.
In eukaryotic cells the mRNA has to be exported to the cytoplasm before it can be translated. This transport requires post-transcriptional modification to protect the mRNA from degradation as it leaves the nucleus, a process unnecessary to prokaryotic cells. Both prokaryotes and eukaryotes can have cell walls and cytoplasts (cytoplasm). Prokaryotes do, in fact, generate proton gradients in order to complete cellular respiration. These gradients are created across the prokaryotic cell membrane, rather than across the mitochondrial membrane.
Example Question #973 : Biology
Sexually transmitted diseases are a common problem among young people in the United States. One of the more common diseases is caused by the bacterium Neisseria gonorrhoeae, which leads to inflammation and purulent discharge in the male and female reproductive tracts.
The bacterium has a number of systems to evade host defenses. Upon infection, it uses pili to adhere to host epithelium. The bacterium also uses an enzyme, gonococcal sialyltransferase, to transfer a sialyic acid residue to a gonococcal surface lipooligosaccharide (LOS). A depiction of this can be seen in Figure 1. The sialyic acid residue mimics the protective capsule found on other bacterial species.
Once infection is established, Neisseria preferentially infects columnar epithelial cells in the female reproductive tract, and leads to a loss of cilia on these cells. Damage to the reproductive tract can result in pelvic inflammatory disease, which can complicate pregnancies later in the life of the woman.
A doctor uses a new antibiotic to fight off Neisseria infection. Shortly thereafter, resistance develops and the doctor finds that inoculating wild type bacteria with the pure DNA of resistant Neisseria organisms produces resistant colonies. Which of the following is the method of modification that the doctor is using?
Transformation
Conjugation
Genetic translation
Transduction
Genetic anticipation
Transformation
Transformation is the uptake of nucleic acid by competent cells, as was described in this question. Conjugation invovles cell-to-cell DNA transfer and transduction involves the use of a viral vector.
Example Question #33 : Microbiology
Sexually transmitted diseases are a common problem among young people in the United States. One of the more common diseases is caused by the bacterium Neisseria gonorrhoeae, which leads to inflammation and purulent discharge in the male and female reproductive tracts.
The bacterium has a number of systems to evade host defenses. Upon infection, it uses pili to adhere to host epithelium. The bacterium also uses an enzyme, gonococcal sialyltransferase, to transfer a sialyic acid residue to a gonococcal surface lipooligosaccharide (LOS). A depiction of this can be seen in Figure 1. The sialyic acid residue mimics the protective capsule found on other bacterial species.
Once infection is established, Neisseria preferentially infects columnar epithelial cells in the female reproductive tract, and leads to a loss of cilia on these cells. Damage to the reproductive tract can result in pelvic inflammatory disease, which can complicate pregnancies later in the life of the woman.
The doctor wants to study the resistance further, so he creates a bacteriophage that transmits the plasmid to other bacterial cells to produce new resistant colonies. Which of the following is the method that the doctor is now using?
Genetic translation
Genetic anticipation
Transduction
Transformation
Conjugation
Transduction
The use of bacteriophage viral vectors to transmit genetic information is transduction, an alternative form of genetic modification to transformation or conjugation. Transformation involves direct uptake of genetic material. Conjugation involves cell-to-cell transfer of DNA.
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